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The 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia came to a close in Milan today with ORICA-SCOTT finishing the first Grand Tour of the season with a stage win and ninth overall.

Former Australian time trial champion Michael Hepburn finished in 15th on the final stage, despite suffering from a fall and subsequent broken bike in the final 500metres.

Tour de France best young rider Adam Yates fought hard in the final 30km race against the clock, finishing in a time of 35’36”. The performance was enough to keep a top-10 position overall but not enough to hold onto the white jersey.

Yates showed his resilience to fight on for an overall result despite being taken out in a motorbike accident on stage nine that cost him several minutes.

“In general it’s been a good experience for the whole three weeks,” Yates concluded. “We had a bit of bad luck in the beginning and if it wasn’t for that maybe things would have been different but we gave 100% every day and that’s all you can do.”

“We came out with a top ten in the general classification, which was one of two objectives for me, so I’m not completely disappointed about losing white.

“It was the first time we have started a Grand Tour with the aim of riding for the general classification, we really only switched to that half way through the Tour de France last year.

“Having guys work day-in and day-out for me is not something I am used to, I haven’t had it all my career, but they have done a great job these few weeks and I am sure as a team we will continue to do a good job in the future.”

The 24-year-old finished with seven top-ten results across the 21-stage race, with ORICA-SCOTT as a team finishing with 12, including a stage win thanks to 22-year-old Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan.

“We have finished with a top-ten overall, a stage win and a hell of a lot of experience,” sport director Matt White said when summarising ORICA-SCOTT’s Giro d’Italia.

“Firstly with Caleb, who won his first stage at the Giro d’Italia and came close another couple of times and also with Adam.

“The Giro is a different beast altogether and we can’t dwell on what could have been, it's racing and to have these three weeks under his belt will be a big benefit for Adam at the Vuelta later in the year and the future in general.

“The team also functioned very well for the three weeks, especially given we had two objectives. From a team that only a couple of years ago was a bunch of opportunists looking for wins whenever we could get them, we come here as one of the big teams now.

“Not many teams can target a serious general classification and have one of the world’s best sprinters so I think we can be proud of that.”